maliemania!: new zealand; part 1

I've been wondering when i would finally be ready to write about my New Zealand vacation. I guess i was still in denial for weeks afterwards that it was all over. I don't exactly miss it all the time day and night and stuff, but there'll be random moments when there's this powerful surge of longing for the magnificent mountains, the gorgeous lakes, the wondrous fresh air.

The first day back in Malaysia was depressing. As i drove my car, i couldn't help but try to imagine myself being back. Why wasn't the sky clear? And when it was, why wasn't it blue enough? Why weren't the hills a spectacular shade of green? Why does everything seem so cramped up, and why oh why don't I feel that amazing feeling of being free and as if the sky was the limit?

It was probably pathetic to have such thoughts, but there they were.

New Zealand was beautiful the moment I stepped out of the airport. Firstly, it was freezing. Like, damn cold. I had forgotten to put on more layers in Sydney, and Christchurch was definitely a lot of degrees colder. I'm not exactly a big fan of the cold weather, but it was different and exciting. It was already late in the evening when we arrived especially because we moved up two more hours ahead of Australia, so all we did was settled into our accommodation for the night - which was amazing, by the way.

We drove to Lake Tekapo the next day. I swear, it was the most mesmerizing 3-hour car ride ever. The first hour, i couldn't stop looking out of the window. The view was extraordinary, even though all i was technically seeing was miles of greenery and hills. But it was beautiful. The sky was so, so blue. The green was so bright and so even and it was just EVERYWHERE. Sometimes we would pass by herds of sheep and cows and even that was exciting. And then when we drove deeper towards the mountains, we started to see gigantic ones with icy tops. We stopped by a random road just to take photos. Even though there were green fields and hills everywhere, it was never a bore to adore the view. The same thing looked unique and amazingly different. And then we arrived at Lake Tekapo. And. It. Took. My. Breath. Away.

I just could not, would not stop staring at it. I wasn't even sure if it was really a lake, because it was fucking massive. And it was in this gorgeous deep shade of blue. We didn't get to check-in at the new accommodation yet, so we went out to drive to Lake Pukaki for a while. OH MY GOD, that lake was just breathtaking. It was even more beautiful than the previous lake, and i don't even know how this one turned out to have a brighter shade of blue. We stopped at a spot with lots and lots of white rocks and it just contrasted so nicely with the lake. The lakewater was so clear up close, and as you gaze further it gets more blue from the reflection of the sky, and you can see a gradient of the colour. There was a historical spot somewhere and I learned that the lake was actually from glacier that had melted millions(or was it thousands?) of years ago. Super cool.

To be continued in Parts 2 and 3...